The insightful and
motivated optometrist or ophthalmologist could introduce a practical and
effective method of solution for myopia prevention.

Dr.
Jacob Raphaelson( see the picture )did exactly that in
the following example—with the following results:

THE PRINTER’S SON

" It was the year 1904 that I met a mother at a social lodge
meeting. She told me about her son’s trouble with his eyes in school. I gave her
my card and told her to bring him to my office and I would fit him with a pair
of spectacles."

" She said she had no money at the time and that her husband
was a printer working in another city. She did not expect him home for the next
six weeks. I told her all this would not matter, that she should bring the boy
over and I would fit him with a pair of spectacles. I told her that she could
pay for them when her husband returned home."

" She brought the boy in and I examined his eyes. I found
that his vision for distance was poor. It was less than 20/40. I made him a pair
of +1.00 D spectacles. She was to pay me when her husband came back home."

" In about six weeks she came and returned the glasses to me.
She stated that her husband was provoked with her for getting the glasses. He
had tried the boy’s eyes with different prints, far and near, and had found him
to have perfect vision with his naked eyes. In fact, she said, the boy could see
even better without the glasses than with them."

" I was surprised that the plus lenses could produce recovery that quickly. I
could hardly believe this story. I persuaded the mother to bring the boy back to
let me check to see if he could really see well with his naked eyes. She again
brought the boy in and I checked his vision. I found that the father was indeed
right. The boy had good eyes, with 20/20 vision and better."

" I was in dilemma. I did not have the nerve to say anything to the mother. I
just let her go. How was I to prove that the boy had had poor vision before he
received his glasses? And who would believe that vision could be restored by
just wearing a pair of +1.00 glasses for a few weeks?"

" My experience with the printer’s son aroused my inborn
tendency for exploration. It gave me an incentive to try to do special work on
children’s eyes and on vision restoration. It also enticed me to investigate
myopic (nearsighted) eyes because I was myself nearsighted."

" On the other hand, this experience was a warning to be
cautious in doing such work. For selling spectacles to persons who, supposedely,
did not need them was almost a crime. And the fitting of glasses without the
advice or a consent of a medical doctor to unhealthy or diseased eyes, or even
to an unhealthy person who might need or be under medical attention, was , and
is now, an encroachment on the medical profession."

" To shield myself against possible enmity and involvement, I
took the following precautions: First , I quit using the title ‘doctor’
in any form, in print or verbally. I was to be known as a spectacle fitter and
nothing more. Second, I charged a reasonable price for the spectacles I sold but
nothing extra for any special work or relief I gave. I did not advertise about
this special work. I just did it as a matter of routine whenever or wherever I
was given the opportunity."

" Thus in 1904 I became an independent researcher on the
relation of the eye’s behavior to spectacles, vision, and health. I have kept it
up, and will continue to do this work as long as I continue to have the
incentive and capability."

" Who would believe it? Who would believe that by just wearing a pair of +1.00
glasses for a few weeks, that normal vision to the naked eye could be restored
to children whose eye’s have a negative refractive state? This was true in 1904,
and it is also true now, in this decade of 1950

！"

(Dr. Jacob Raphaelson had passed away in the 1970s. He pointed out use of
minus lens for nearsightedness would only deteriorate naked-eye vision in a
hundred years ago. He encouraged his descendants and the public to protect
innate vision by use of reading plus lens . The use of plus lens to preserve
vision continues to be true in the decade of 1990--Otis brown. It continues to
be true in 21st century and forever.--- Steve Leung )